Wiebe eager to run for Stewart Cup
Oct. 30, 2009 - Regina Leader-Post
By Tim Switzer
Kelly Wiebe is ready to put all the frustrations of the past year behind him.
The 20-year-old University of Regina Cougars runner suffered two of the biggest disappointments of his sporting career in the past 12 months.
The first came in November following a CIS cross-country season during which Wiebe had dominated the circuit and earned four titles, including one at the Stewart Cup, the de facto Canada West championships.
Heading into the 2008 CIS championships, Wiebe was a favourite to medal but was forced to withdraw due to a knee injury.
"I went on the trip but had mixed feelings as to whether I would run or not," said Wiebe. "I rested my whole body for a week before. I was warming up and something didn't feel good and I knew it wasn't to be. The team was disappointed and I was even more disappointed that I couldn't help them out. But there wasn't much you could do."
After overcoming that injury, the Swift Current product had what he described as his best-ever outdoor track season in the summer and was slated to compete for Saskatchewan at the Canada Summer Games in Prince Edward Island.
Then the injury bug returned when a calf injury turned out to be a stress fracture in the tibia. The fracture kept him out of the Summer Games and the first half of the 2009 CIS season.
"It was getting really frustrating, but I just tried to stay optimistic," said Wiebe.
Wiebe returned to the Cougars on Oct. 16 at the Minot State Open and placed second, just five seconds behind rookie teammate Wyatt Baiton.
"I think I'm just as fit, if not more fit than last year," said Wiebe. "When I ran ... in Minot, I was 19 seconds faster this year than I was last year. I have more fitness and I think I have more drive because I missed things last year."
And now getting set to race the Stewart Cup in Edmonton on Saturday, Wiebe will be looking to reclaim his spot as the Cougars' top cross-country runner from Baiton, who has finished first in three races this season. Those three races -- the Cougar Trot, the University of Saskatchewan Open and the Minot State Open -- just happened to be the first three races Wiebe won during his breakout season in 2008.
"I'll be there challenging him for sure this weekend," Wiebe said, laughing.
In all seriousness, Wiebe would not begrudge the success of Baiton, one of the first top runners in the province to join the suddenly competitive Cougars, who are ranked sixth in the CIS.
"It's a great feeling to have him," said Wiebe. "Last year I didn't really have anyone to run with until big races like Stewart Cup and the CIS championships. This year I was really looking forward to training with Wyatt because I knew he'd be right up there with me in workouts and races."
Wiebe would also love to have the rest of the U of R's top five runners by his side in Edmonton this weekend, but Eric Benjamin will be rested to avoid injury before the CIS championships.
With Benjamin resting, that means the first time he, Wiebe, Baiton, Dale Wig and Iain Fyfe will race together against CIS competition will be the CIS championships on Nov. 14 in Kingston, Ont.
Having won the team title at the Stewart Cup last year, the national championship is where the Cougars really want to make a statement, anyway.
"The Stewart Cup is really big," said Wiebe. "That's where all the teams bring out their big guns but hopefully we can take the top two or three spots."
But at the same time ...
"We've already shown ourselves at Stewart Cup," Wiebe added. "We have to start showing ourselves at the national level."